Tuesday, 31 October 2017

THE main opposition MDC-T has accused its Zanu PF rivals in
Bulawayo of allegedly dishing out copies of pre-signed affidavits of proof of
residence to desperate residents in the ongoing biometric voter registration
exercise and later demanding serial numbers of voter slips given to people they
would have assisted, as part of the ruling party’s voter intimidation tactics.

“The MDC T provincial executive has uncovered unethical
action and criminality committed by the MP. He is issuing pre-signed affidavits
to Zanu PF members in the said constituency to register to vote. Accordingly,
his actions are a serious offence, hence this must be taken seriously,” Sibanda
said.

“He is abusing his office as a commissioner of oath.
Secondly, in the same constituency, some members of the Zanu P F youth wing are
grabbing by force voter registration certificates from potential voters and
recording serial numbers.”

He said this action was counter-productive as it
intimidated would-be voters in 2018.

“We, therefore, demand sanity to prevail in the second
phase to minimise those wayward behaviours from Tshuma and his youths. This has
to stop immediately or the credibility of this voter registration is at stake,”
Sibanda said.

But Tshuma refuted Sibanda’s claims describing him as
“intoxicated”.

“His claims are like someone who smokes dagga. By
profession, I am a commissioner of oath and I admit I sign the affidavits. I do
not keep those affidavits, but people collect them from Zec (Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission) and come to me to register,” Tshuma said.

“I go to centres where people come and certify the
affidavits and what happens is that people manage to know that their MP is at a
certain centre and come to certify their affidavits and there is nothing wrong
with that.” newsday